Yukun Sun — Contemporary Visual Artist

Contemporary Visual Artist

Yukun
Sun

孙玉坤

"The material itself is the art, and the physical act of painting is the content."

Artist Statement

Deeply rooted in a contemporary re-exploration of Art Informel, Sun vehemently rejects geometric abstraction and rational composition — surrendering instead to spontaneity, intuition, and the elements of chance.
Based Calgary, AB, Canada
Medium Oil & Acrylic on Canvas and Paper
Practice Art Informel · Abstract Expression · Installation
Member China Free Artists Association (2019-present)
New Horizon — Yukun Sun
New Works · 2025

New
Horizon

Calgary — A radical departure from Beijing to Alberta: a series of acrylic paintings exploring pure gesture, color, and the act of painting itself.

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Past Exhibitions — Yukun Sun
Selected Exhibitions · 2019-2021

Past
Exhibitions

Beijing & China — Installations, sculpture, and painting from the Shangyuan Art Museum residency and beyond. With critical reviews from international writers.

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Critical Essay · Art Historical Positioning

Deconstruction and Reconfiguration: Yukun Sun’s “Neo-Informel” and Material Ontology

In the contemporary context of globalization and transcultural migration, visual art often risks falling into two extreme paradigms: either catering to a Western gaze through "tokenized Orientalism," or drowning in didactic grand narratives that obscure the essence of art itself. Yukun Sun, a Chinese-Canadian contemporary artist now based in Alberta, cuts through these conventions with his steadfast stance of "Anti-Additivism," forging a path of pure, visceral tension on the canvas.

Sun's artistic practice cannot be encapsulated by the mere label of "abstract painting." Tracing his trajectory from his residency at the renowned Shangyuan Art Museum in Beijing to his current creations against the backdrop of the Canadian Rockies, his work must be examined through the critical lenses of the contemporary revival of Art Informel and the Phenomenology of Material.

Read the full essay
Based Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Medium Oil & Acrylic on Canvas and Paper
Practice Art Informel · Abstract Expression · Installation
Member China Free Artists Association (2019-present)

Professional Background

2021-
Present
Chief Visual Designer
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Education Group
2020-
2021
Art Director
Tongji University Affiliated Schools Group
Artist Residency
Shangyuan Art Museum
International Creation Project
2019-2020 · Beijing, China
Awarded an exclusive placement in the highly competitive International Creation Project — collaborating and exhibiting alongside artists from 24 countries.

Selected Exhibitions

2025
Calgary
2022
Group "Self-Portrait" Exhibition
Beijing, China
2021
Group The 1st "Art of Peace" Exhibition
China
2019
Shangyuan Art Museum, Beijing
2019
Group International Creation Project Closing Exhibition
Shangyuan Art Museum, Beijing
2019
Group The Great Wall Art Festival
Beijing · Co-initiator of Chinese Contemporary Art Day

Let's talk about
art and collaboration.

Email
[email protected]
Location
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Affiliation
Member, China Free Artists Association